Sunday, May 11, 2008

On behalf of the Storm organization, a Happy Mother's Day to all of our mothers out there. The Chicago Tribune did a feature today on motherhood in the WNBA, and the Storm now has two of the league's most prominent mothers in Yolanda Griffith and Sheryl Swoopes.

Naturally, mothers have played a key role in the lives of the Storm players, but maybe none more so than for Swin Cash and her mother Cynthia. Cynthia was just 17 when she gave birth to Swin, and raised her as a single mother (with help from her family) before later marrying.

Inspired by her mother, through her "Cash for Kids" foundation she partnered with the Shock to open a resource center at the Ferguson Academy for Young Women in Detroit. The Ferguson Academy is an alternative high school that caters to the unique needs of teenage mothers. This NBA TV video explains the complete story of Cash's involvement with the Ferguson Academy.

The other day, I asked Swin about what Mother's Day and her family mean to her.

"It's always a special time for me when Mother's Day rolls around," Cash said. "I celebrate my mom probably 365 days of the year, but I really try to make sure that the weekend of mother's day is special for her. I always send flowers, I always get her a nice gift, nice card, and let her know what she's meant to me. My mom has been my rock my whole life. I like to show her appreciation the whole weekend."

Is it hard to not be able to spend the weekend with her out on the West Coast?I would spend as many as I could with my mom. It's going to be tough to be away because my family, they're all coming in from out of state to have a big cookout for my grandmother. My grandmother is 89. My family is really a close-knit family. It's going to be hard to be away from them this weekend, but at the same time they're very supportive of me being out here in Seattle and they're happy I'm happy. It will be OK - there will be lots of pictures.

How much influence have your family and your mother in particular had on your charitable work?They've had a big influence. They're part of the reason why I started my charity. I always grew up from humble beginnings and my mom used to stress to me that you always have to give back. It doesn't matter what stage you get to in your life, it doesn't matter how much you have, you'll never feel fulfilled until you help another person. That's what I've always tried to do in every walk of my life, from high school to college to being a pro. Once I was able to start Cash for Kids and have the recognition and people to follow initiatives that I wanted to go after, it's been a blessing. It's one of the most fulfilling things in my life.

9 comments:

Happy Mother's Day to all our wonderful mothers out there! Happy Mother's Day to our 2 Storm mothers - Sheryl Swoopes and Yolanda Griffith and thanks Kevin for running the Mother's Day article featuring Swin Cash and her mother. Mothers definitely make the world go 'round and keep us all sane and happy. And Happy Mother's Day to my mother, Marilyn. I love you very much.

Kevin, are you going to be able to do any more detailed analysis of the 6 players vying for the last 3 spots on the roster? Maybe go over their strengths and weaknesses, list their college accomplishments/stats and pro stats, if any. Which ones are battling for the same position? Who has the most upside? Who are the best shooters? Who are known to be good defenders and who aren't?

Who's the quickest - has the most speed? Whose skills may be too similar to players already on the team for coach Agler to keep? Things like that. I know a lot of people would enjoy that and you don't have to say who you would keep or who you think Coach Agler should keep.

Kevin, We probably don't need an in depth breakdown of the "bubble" players. Maybe, because you have seen them significantly more than us (one hour of practice and one preseason game for us) you could do an "If I was Brian Agler, I'd keep...because...".

Kevin, even if you could give us a couple thoughts - impressions of each one - anything that jumps out at you - that would be cool. Whatever you can do would be appreciated. I like Kristen but I think she has some pretty tough competition.

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StormTracker, the official blog of the Seattle Storm, features Kevin Pelton, who enters his seventh season of covering the Storm for stormbasketball.com in 2009. Check out StormTracker for complete offseason coverage and Kevin's analysis of the Storm and the WNBA as a whole.Contact KevinStorm Tracker RSS